'Make Change' Program Expands Again

PUBLISHED ON May 18 2015

Make Change, the Butler University Center for Urban Ecology program that generates “credit” for doing good for the environment, has added new activities that participants can do to earn redeemable currency.

Volunteering with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful at select events, dropping off old electronics at RecycleForce, and enrolling in the IPL Green Power option are some of the new ways to earn credit. Also, Make Change has developed a partnership with Circle City Rain Barrels to offer discounted rain barrel-building workshops every third Saturday through August.

The full list of activities can be found at makechangeindy.com.

In addition, participants in the Make Change program are now able to spend the currency at eight businesses in Fountain Square and the Near Eastside, thanks to a SustainIndy Community Grant that runs through November 1.

The new business partners in the program are People for Urban Progress, Rocket 88 Doughnuts, VeloWorks Urban Cyclery, and Wildwood Market in Fountain Square, and Little Green Bean Boutique, Metta Yoga, Pogue’s Run Grocer, and Khaos Company Theatre on the Near Eastside.

Each hour of activity a person does is worth $10 in aluminum coins specially created for this program. Also available are quarter-hour coins that equal $2.50 worth of activity.

The program has been operating in Midtown since 2012 and will continue to run there. Businesses currently accepting the currency include Unleavened Bread Café, The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Freewheelin' Community Bikes, Fall Creek Gardens, Duos Kitchen, KI EcoCenter, Agrarian, Indy Upcycle, Good Earth Natural Foods, Broad Ripple Brew Pub, and the Center for Urban Ecology Farm at Butler.

'Make Change' Program Expands Again

On Theatre Day, All of Butler's a Stage

Michael McClellan, a senior at Roncalli High School in Indianapolis, wants to be a filmmaker. But when he heard about Butler’s first-ever Theatre Day on September 19, he couldn’t resist signing up.

Along with over 100 other high school students from Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky and Indiana, McClellan was able to experience a day in the life of a Butler theatre student.

He says the one-on-one instruction with professors and college students inspired him to be himself both onstage and off.

“They were talking about, ‘We don’t want to see your characters, cause anyone can do a character. We want to see who you are and what you can bring to this college,’” he said.

Theatre Day was the brainchild of LaKisha Cooper, an administrative assistant in Butler’s Theatre Department. She dreamed up the idea as a way to expose high school students to the program while allowing Butler’s theatre majors to shine.

“Our students don’t realize the great work they do, and I wanted others to see that,” she said. “This is a great place to go to school.”

Theatre major Kristen Gibbs ’18 agrees. She says the day was the perfect opportunity for high school students to experience actual theatre classes with college professors - an opportunity she wishes she could have had.

“During my audition, they didn’t have enough time to tell us everything that was in the curriculum,” she said. “I feel like coming here on this day and getting a little taste of everything, even if it was just a snapshot, I feel like that would have benefitted me a lot.”

In a makeup class, students were able to paint each other’s faces like zombies. In an acting class, professor Elaina Artemiev led students through an exercise, and voice, movement and lighting classes completed the lineup.

At the end of the day, a few lucky ninth- through 12th-graders were picked out of the crowd to perform their monologues for three professors in a mock “audition” in the Schrott Center.

After each performance, students applauded their peers with supportive whoops and cheers. The professors provided instructive criticism and tips for the students to improve their monologues, providing the perfect finale to an educational day.

“This is a great process to let them see an audition,” Adam Bridges ’18 said. “It’s really cool because it’s terrifying the first time you do an audition process.”

And although the day was jam packed with educational sessions, according to Gibbs and Bridges, the high schoolers’ favorite part of the day wasn’t a particular class or session.

Rather, it was waffle day in the cafeteria. On Theatre Day, even Atherton’s a stage.

800 Bulldogs Heading Out Saturday to Serve Indianapolis

BY

PUBLISHED ON Aug 26 2015

More than 800 representatives of Butler University are expected to volunteer for the 2015 Bulldogs Into the Streets (BITS), Butler’s annual effort to give back to the city of Indianapolis, on Saturday, August 29, from 10 AM to 1 PM.

This year, the program has been moved to the weekend to accommodate not only student volunteers but faculty, staff, alumni, campus partners, and members of the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood. They will fan out to about 25 service sites in the city, donating 2,400 hours of service worth an estimated $55,368.

“For years, we have held BITS on the day before classes started and asked only first-year students to volunteer,” said Caroline Huck-Watson, Director of Butler’s Office of Programs for Leadership and Service Education. “Our sophomores, juniors, seniors, faculty, and staff would tell us that they wanted to participate too, so this year we moved it to a weekend day so that all Bulldogs can be part of a great day of serving with our neighbors and city.”

The Tarkington Park project is part of the Great Places 2020 initiative, which is intended to transform neighborhoods and spur urban revitalization. BITS volunteers will be working with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful on this project.

BITS participants will be tweeting using the hashtag #ButlerServes.

BITS is in its 21st year, but Huck-Watson said volunteerism is a year-round effort at Butler. Participants in BITS are encouraged to continue to be involved in volunteer activities through:

The Volunteer Opportunities Fair, featuring representatives from dozens of local non-profit organizations. This year’s fair is September 16.

The Butler Volunteer Center’s Listserv. Volunteers can register for a weekly listserv that has information on a variety of projects.

Student Government Association Service and Philanthropy Board. Students can take a role in the new SGA Service and Philanthropy Board, and help the University continue to commit to service.

Alternative Breaks. Fall and Spring alternative breaks allow students to do volunteer projects in other areas of the country.

Indianapolis Community Requirement courses, which combine classroom-learning with service.

Carnegie Foundation Recognizes Butler's Community Engagement Efforts

BY

PUBLISHED ON Jan 07 2015

Butler University has been selected to receive the Carnegie Foundation’s 2015 Community Engagement Classification, a distinction that recognizes the University’s efforts to connect with the Indianapolis community.

This designation acknowledges the ongoing involvement of college students, staff, faculty, and community partners in working together to improve the quality of life in Central Indiana and beyond.

"The classification recognizes our commitment to partnering with communities as we provide experiential learning opportunities,” Butler University President James M. Danko said. “Our students connect with the community, and together we serve the common good."

In the award notification letter to the University, representatives of the Carnegie Foundation noted Butler’s application “documented excellent alignment among campus mission, culture, leadership, resources, and practices that support dynamic and noteworthy community engagement.”

“The importance of this elective classification is borne out by the response of so many campuses that have demonstrated their deep engagement with local, regional, national, and global communities,” said John Saltmarsh, Director of the New England Resource Center for Higher Education. “These are campuses that are improving teaching and learning, producing research that makes a difference in communities, and revitalizing their civic and academic missions.”

Butler is one of 361 institutions nationwide to receive the Community Engagement Classification—and one of 240 selected for 2015.

In earning the Carnegie classification, Butler is cited for programs such as its Indianapolis Community Requirement (ICR), a unique component of Butler’s core curriculum through which all students take at least one course that involves active engagement with the Indianapolis community. More about the ICR is here.

Other programs across Butler's six colleges also encourage community engagement, including:

The Butler-Shortridge partnership, engaging Butler faculty and students in various curricular and programmatic collaborations with Indianapolis Public Schools' Shortridge Magnet High School for Law & Public Policy.

The Early College Program, which brings select Shortridge juniors and seniors to campus each semester to earn college credits and contribute to the Butler community.

Partnerships with local organizations such as the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, The Immigrant Welcome Center, and A Caring Place.

The Butler Community Arts School, which provides low- and no-cost music and arts education to hundreds of students across the community.

The Community Screening Practicum, through which Butler students in the Communication Sciences and Disorders program conduct speech, language, and hearing screenings for children enrolled in Indianapolis community schools.

Generation Rx, a joint effort of Butler Student Association of Pharmacy and students of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences that strives to educate and raise awareness about prescription drug misuse.

Writing in the Schools, a collaboration between Butler’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program and Shortridge Magnet High School, has worked directly with more than 300 of Shortridge’s 900 students.

The Butler Business Consulting Group, which helps Indiana companies and the Butler College of Business grow by leveraging our depth of experience and breadth of resources in a spirit of teaching, learning and caring.

Danko said Butler-Indianapolis connections help students learn about themselves and others, while engaged in meaningful community service.

“This experience,” he said, “is an investment in their future as engaged citizens who will continue to recognize diverse viewpoints, understand the value of collaborating with others, and work together on solutions to problems.”